Photos Of The Drunken Fancy Dress Costume Riot That Marred An Australian Darts Contest

Scott Barbour/Getty Images It probably wasn't funny for fans not involved in the crowd riot at the Darts Invitational Challenge in Melbourne on Saturday, but the rest of the world is still laughing.

Aussie arrows ace Simon 'The Wizard' Whitlock was locked in a final with Michael 'Mighty Mike' Van Gerwen when the boozed up crowd in fancy dress decided to make a chair pyramid.

Police were called in and up to 40 people were evicted. And while it's tempting to say the whole thing was a bit of an embarrassment for Australia, the reality is, the rest of the world wasn't all that surprised.

Particularly the media here in Britain, the spiritual home of the pub sport in which drinking for professional competitors was banned (on stage) in 1989 in a bid to arrest a decline in sponsorship.

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It seemed a cheerful occasion, at least at the beginning.

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Not so cheerful after some time.

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The BBC saw it best, noting this “man dressed as Batman’s sidekick Robin wrestling with an English knight”.

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And “men in Hawaiian shirts and also a gang of Oompa Loompas throwing furniture.”

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“We’ve never seen anything like this,” was the call from the Bleacher Report.

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Amazingly, just three people were injured.

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Convicts will be convicts.

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Getty photographer Scott Barbour must have thought it was still Christmas.

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Play was halted pretty much until the hooligans got bored, as there seemed little any officials at the stadium could do about it.

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By the time police arrived and starting ejecting people, the entire seating area was trashed.

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But before that, it was hell.

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For the record, “Mighty Mike” overcame the hometown hero to win the match 9-8, but witnesses say he looked “disgusted” by the whole affair.

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For many Australians tuning in to the debacle over the weekend, the question was “How was this allowed to happen?”

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For the rest, it was “When’s the next one?” and “Where do I get tickets?”